So I got my new tank last night. I really wanted a frameless tank but went with the Marineland 27 Gallon Cube set. Still need to get a filter, driftwood, plants, and I'm still debating on if I want to use the Marineland Double Bright LED fixture it came with. The idea that I have for this tank is to do an "island" with manzanita branch(es) and rocks surrounding it. Then I'll use pool filter sand around the rocks. For plants, I'm looking at narrow leaf java fern and anubias.

Here's a couple pics:

The 55 in the background is sold and they are waiting for me to setup this tank so I can start transferring fish and shrimp. The primary purpose of this tank is going to be raising albino bristle nose plecos and breeding cherry shrimp.

Any recommendations for filtration and how well this LED fixture will do with the anubias and ferns? Thanks all!

Love the looks of the tank. I would think the LED should be fine although the tank may have a bluish look if there are an equal amount of blue and white LED.

I agree with the ya on the look of the tank. I've always wanted a cube and I finally got one. The blue won't bother me too much. I think it adds a nice look to the tank. As far as number of lights, there are 6 white LED's and 3 blue. We'll see how it looks once I get everything setup then I'll determine if I want to keep it or just sell it. My only fear really is that like you said, it would be too blue or that it won't grow the plants well.

I think it will be fine for growing plants specially low light plants like you are planning. I shouldn't look too blue with 6 white to 3 blue LEDs. On another forum a user tested the PAR and found the fixture was putting out around 80 PAR at about 12" below the light if I remember right. The distance might be a little farther.

I think it will be fine for growing plants specially low light plants like you are planning. I shouldn't look too blue with 6 white to 3 blue LEDs. On another forum a user tested the PAR and found the fixture was putting out around 80 PAR at about 12" below the light if I remember right. The distance might be a little farther.

Sounds decent to me. All I can do is give it a shot at this point. If I'm not happy with it then I'll throw it up for sale. The one downfall so far is that there aren't separate switches for the moonlight. It's either all or none. Guess I can live without the moonlight.

I have used pool filter sand before but it turned dark after a while. Is there something better to use to make it appear as sand?

For using a paintball C02 tank, what is the best regulator setup for it?

I'm looking to get either the Rena XP1 or XP2 for the filter as I have the XP3 on my 90 and have no complaints with it. Is the XP1 sufficient enough for the light to medium bioload or should I get the XP2?

What are some good looking rocks if I'm looking to do anubias and java fern only on the driftwood and in between the rocks and just using the sand to surround the "island"?

Well I went and purchased my Rena XP1 canister filter for the tank today. Just gotta get the gravel so I can start to cycle the tank. That'll be done tomorrow. Still need to get the driftwood and plants yet for the tank.

I love the shape and looks although I found the silicone to be fairly sloppy on mine and all the other examples I saw around town. I guess that's part of the lower price compared to their 25 gallon cube.

The doublebright has been enough to grow some lower light plants but I found two problems:
A) It doesn't really cover enough of the tank, two or even three would be better.
B) It didn't give me enough light to grow hairgrass.

With that in mind, I cheated and got a cheapo clamp/dome light from home depot and screwed in a phillips daylight compact fluorescent and although it's ugly it really made the difference, I've got some solid growth in my hairgrass and everything else is perking up.

I love the shape and looks although I found the silicone to be fairly sloppy on mine and all the other examples I saw around town. I guess that's part of the lower price compared to their 25 gallon cube.

The doublebright has been enough to grow some lower light plants but I found two problems:
A) It doesn't really cover enough of the tank, two or even three would be better.
B) It didn't give me enough light to grow hairgrass.

With that in mind, I cheated and got a cheapo clamp/dome light from home depot and screwed in a phillips daylight compact fluorescent and although it's ugly it really made the difference, I've got some solid growth in my hairgrass and everything else is perking up.

I guess I should go ahead and start a thread up soon lol

Glad to see I'm not the only one with the setup! I was just cleaning up the tank and also noticed that the silicone is pretty sloppy. I'm planning on giving the light a shot and if it doesn't do well then I'll be replacing it.

Got the tank up and running to start the cycle. I used bio media from my 90 gallon and 10 gallons of water from the tank to help establish the tank faster. Plan on moving everything over next weekend. Ended up getting the Tahitian Moon Sand for the tank. I used 2 20 lb bags of it. Here's a couple pics of what I have so far.

After looking around a bit for driftwood and plants I changed my idea a little and decided to use a piece out of my 90 gallon that is covered in Java Fern. I'll then purchase some new, larger driftwood for my 90 gallon. Here's a pic of the driftwood from my 90.

I'll get that transferred over probably list weekend. I'll get some more posted up once I get more done. Thanks for looking!

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the The Planted Tank Forum forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

OR

Log-in

User Name

Password

Remember Me?

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.